William Pickett (alderman)
William Pickett (died 1796) was an English goldsmith and local politician, Lord Mayor of London in 1789.[1]
Contents
Goldsmith
Pickett was in business as a goldsmith on Ludgate Hill from 1758, initially a partner in Thead & Pickett. From 1768 to 1777 he traded under his own name. From 1777 Philip Rundell was a partner with him in Pickett & Rundell.[2]
In 1786 Rundell bought out Pickett, and within about a year the firm became Rundell and Bridge, the dominant London goldsmiths for half a century.[3]
Politician
Pickett was elected alderman of Cornhill Ward in 1783.[4] In London's Court of Alderman he belonged to the Whig group, opposed to the government of William Pitt the younger in the 1790s.[5] In 1787, at the request of local traders, he campaigned for the removal of Temple Bar, but without success.[6] While this scheme for street widening was thrown out, Pickett did succeed with another, near the Strand in the area of St Clement Danes.[7] The resulting new Pickett Street was only called for that name for a short while, the traditional name Strand prevailing.[8] The new development was demolished in 1870, to make way for the Royal Courts of Justice.[9]
A reforming Lord Mayor for 1789, Pickett then stood as a parliamentary candidate, for the City of London, in 1790. Without a political organisation he came bottom of the poll. He stood again in 1796, as an opponent of the sedition bills, with little more success.[10]
Death
Pickett was buried in the family vault in Stoke Newington on 24 December 1796.[11]
Family
He married Elizabeth Pratten.[12][13] Other sources say he married the daughter of his partner Thead.
Notes
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- ↑ Walter Thornbury, 'St Clement Danes: The law courts', in "Old and New London": Volume 3 (London, 1878), pp. 15-25 http://www.british-history.ac.uk/old-new-london/vol3/pp15-25 [accessed 23 June 2015].
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